Written Answers Wednesday 23 July 2008

Scottish Executive

Access for People with Disabilities

Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many rail stations it will ensure are wheelchair accessible by 2011 and how these compare with the present figure.

Stewart Stevenson: Disabled access to Scotland’s railway is a matter reserved to Westminster as it sits within disability and equality legislation that is the responsibility of the UK Government.

  There are 346 railway stations in Scotland. At present 201 are fully accessible to wheelchair users.

  Work should be complete on eight stations that will be made step free by April 2009 through the first phase of the Access For All programme, which was launched in 2006 and is funded by the Department for Transport until 2015.

  Transport Scotland has identified a further five Scottish stations that should be given priority for investment and I have recommended these stations for approval by the Secretary of State for Transport. Work would begin on these stations after April 2009.

  It is anticipated that all 13 stations will be fully accessible to wheelchair users by 2011, bringing the total number of fully accessible stations in Scotland to 214.

  Stations to be made step free between 2011 and 2015 through the Access For All programme will be announced next year.

Civil Service Relocation

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many governmental bodies have relocated to the Highlands and Islands since the beginning of 2007.

John Swinney: No governmental bodies have relocated to the Highlands and Islands since the beginning of 2007.

Civil Service Relocation

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many government jobs have been relocated to the Highlands and Islands since the beginning of 2007.

John Swinney: No Scottish Government posts have been relocated to the Highlands and Islands since the beginning of 2007.

Civil Service Relocation

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans for further public sector job relocations to the Highlands and Islands.

John Swinney: The possibility of such relocations will be kept under on-going review.

Civil Service Relocation

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will welcome any bids from local authorities throughout the Highlands and Islands area requesting that governmental jobs be relocated to their area.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government set out its new relocation policy on 29 January 2008. Relocation of specific bodies will be considered where it can be shown that there are operational benefits from doing so, that the costs of relocation can be afforded and that it will result in efficiencies. Where those conditions are satisfied a transparent process will be undertaken to identify potential location options. Where possible, we will seek to accommodate organisations within the Scottish Government’s estate. If no such opportunity exists we will discuss with our public sector partners, including local authorities, alternative accommodation options.

Civil Service Relocation

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many small units there are within government departments which are eligible for relocation under the Small Units Initiative; what these units are, and how many jobs would be involved in any relocation.

John Swinney: Ministers remain committed to the Small Units Initiative. We will keep under ongoing review opportunities within the core Scottish Government and related bodies for the relocation of specific small units where it can be demonstrated that the benefits are commensurate with the costs involved.

Concessionary Travel

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs of marketing the young persons’ concessionary fares scheme (a) were in 2007-08 and (b) will be in 2008-09.

Stewart Stevenson: The cost of marketing the young persons’ concessionary fares scheme was £0.5 million in 2007-08. Marketing costs in 2008-09 will depend on the extent to which we are satisfied with the level of uptake and awareness of the scheme during the year – this is currently being analysed.

Concessionary Travel

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the review of the national concessionary travel scheme will examine ways to increase the uptake of the young persons’ concessionary fares scheme.

Stewart Stevenson: No. The review will concentrate on the scheme for older and disabled people.

Defence

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13036 by Bruce Crawford on 2 June 2008 and regardless of whether any invitations were sought, whether any invitations were received by the First Minister from heads of state to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, if so, which ones he has chosen to (a) accept and (b) refuse.

Bruce Crawford: No invitations have been received from heads of state to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Dentistry

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the new scales for dental charges in England and Wales introduced on 1 April 2008 whereby an individual pays a standard fee of £16.20, £44.60 or £198 for three levels of treatment, it will review the maximum charge of 80% of up to £348 (£278.40) in Scotland.

Shona Robison: New contractual arrangements for the provision of NHS dental services have been introduced in England and Wales. Following a consultation in 2003, a decision was taken by the previous administration to retain item of service fees in Scotland, ie a fee for each item of treatment undertaken. The differences in the arrangements for NHS dental services in England and Wales and those in Scotland have resulted in the different patient charging systems which now exist and the disparity in the maximum patient charge. There are no current plans to review the maximum patient charge for a single course of NHS dental treatment in Scotland.

Energy Efficiency

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether members of the public will be able to access information on the energy performance of buildings that they are considering purchasing or renting and, if so, how this will be done.

Stewart Stevenson: The EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings requires that energy performance certificates (EPCs) are made available to prospective buyers and tenants from 4 January 2009. This will be done by various means. For example, it is intended that, for marketed dwellings, the EPC will accompany the Home Report. In all cases, however, it is intended that EPCs will be affixed to buildings.

Energy Efficiency

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will collect information on the energy performance of non-domestic buildings once energy performance certificates are introduced in January 2009 and, if not, whether any other body will collect this information.

Stewart Stevenson: Information from energy performance certificates for new, non-domestic buildings is currently placed on the building standards register maintained by local authorities. We are endeavouring to identify an appropriate register for existing non-domestic buildings.

Energy Efficiency

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent cloning will be permissible in drawing up energy performance certificates.

Stewart Stevenson: The EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive allows for certification based on the assessment of another representative apartment in the same block. This has been taken into account in developing software for the generation of energy performance certificates.

Energy Efficiency

Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to put in place in order to ensure compliance with regulations requiring energy performance certificates at point of rental or sale from January 2009.

Stewart Stevenson: Responsibility for ensuring compliance for all buildings lies with the local authority. Where cases of non-compliance occur, the local authority will be in a position to serve a notice in order to address contraventions.

Ferry Services

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what extra funding is being given to Caledonian MacBrayne and Northlink ferries in 2008-09 because of the rising cost of fuel and from which budgets this money is coming.

Mr Stewart Stevenson: The procedures for dealing with variations in fuel costs are set out in the public service contracts between the Scottish Ministers and CalMac Ferries Ltd covering the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services and NorthLink Ferries Ltd for the Northern Isles ferry services. Under the terms of those contracts, an annual budget against which subsidy is payable is agreed based on estimated fuel prices and the volume of fuel required to operate the contracted services. If the price of fuel increases beyond the budgeted price set, then the Scottish Government is required to cover the cost of the difference by making supplementary grant payments. If the volume of the actual fuel required is above the budgeted volume set, the operator bears the full cost of the volume increase.

  Full consideration of these issues will be assessed within the Scottish Government’s budget for 2008-2009.

Local Government Finance

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial criteria it believes would have to be met in order for local authority bonds for new capital spending to be a competitive home for investment in an open marketplace for investment finance.

John Swinney: The ability of a local authority to support such borrowing would be a major factor, as would the interest rate offered.

Local Government Funding

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to each local authority for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

John Swinney: The information requested is set out in the Scottish Government’s Finance Circular 1-2008, which details the Local Government Finance Settlements covering the period 2008-11. A copy of this circular is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45732).

  The allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are currently provisional and will be subject to Parliamentary approval when the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Orders 2009 and 2010 are presented to Parliament early in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Ministerial Correspondence

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the number of instances since May 2007 where an MSP has failed to receive for more than nine months a response from a minister to a letter, broken down by minister.

Bruce Crawford: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11691 on 1 May 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Police

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many UK ministers have carried out official visits to Scotland requiring police attendance and support in each year since 1997.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many official royal engagements and events there have been in Scotland requiring a dedicated police presence, not including that provided by the Royal Protection Unit, in each year since 1999.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what auditing mechanisms are in place to oversee financial accountability of policing operations related to royal visits and engagements in Scotland to ensure that police forces maintain best value principles.

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has calculated the cost to local businesses and individuals of any disruption caused by royal visits and events, and the cost of associated security arrangements, in each year since 1999.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15037 on 22 July 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Public Private Partnerships

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the NPD PPP programme envisaged and set out in Taking Forward the Scottish Futures Trust differs in any material respect from the NPD PPP project used by Argyll and Bute Council to finance a number of its new school buildings.

John Swinney: The NPD project model proposed for use by the SFT has evolved in certain detailed commercial respects since Argyll and Bute and now offers improved value for money as compared to the Argyll and Bute pilot. Through SFT there is the potential to increase further the benefits of NPD over the "standard UK PFI" model used in the main by the previous administration.

Road Safety

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) set-up costs were and (b) ongoing costs are of (i) www.streetsense.com , (ii) www.crashmagnets.com and (iii) www.A2bsafely.com ; how many visitors each site receives per month, and what assessment is carried out of the sites to manage their effectiveness.

Stewart Stevenson: The Scottish Government funds Road Safety Scotland for the development of key road safety education initiatives and publicity messages. Streetsense, crashmagnets and A2bsafely are educational road safety websites developed by Road Safety Scotland. Information about these websites can be found in the Road Safety Scotland Annual Report and Business Plan which can be viewed at: http://www.roadsafetyscotland.org.uk/about/ar_bp.asp .

  Assessment of the websites is carried out by Road Safety Scotland using feedback provided by its Education sub-committee, short-term working groups and a wide network of road safety professionals who track the usage of all Road Safety Scotland education resources within their police or local authority road safety units. In addition, Streetsense was fully evaluated in 2006 and can be found at http://www.roadsafetyscotland.org.uk/research/completed/streetsense_evaluation.asp

  The following table provides the cost and site visitor figures requested. The A2bsafely website currently does not have a reporting tool and therefore visitor figures are not available.

  

 
 Set-up costs
 On-going costs (per year)
 website visitors (average per month)


 streetsense
£71,192
£800
 247


 crashmagnets
£29,249
£800
 1,505


 A2bsafely
£61,864
£8,788
 Not available

Scottish Government Finance

Aileen Campbell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought information from Her Majesty’s Government on the amount and proportion of tax revenues raised in Scotland spent on the (a) military operation in Iraq, (b) Trident nuclear weapons system, (c) Ministry of Defence, (d) Department for International Development and (e) Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as part of its research for the Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland report.

John Swinney: The expenditure data provided in GERS is presented according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG), a United Nations based code for functional analysis of government expenditure. Consistent with this classification, the GERS analysis of UK defence expenditure does not provide estimates of expenditure on particular military operations or individual capital projects.

  In GERS, in 2006-07, estimated UK Government expenditure for Scotland by:

  the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was £155 million, or 8.45% of the UK total of £1,841 million;

  the Department for International Development was £364 million, or 8.46% of the UK Total of £4,304 million;

  the Ministry of Defence was £2,833 million, or 8.44% of the UK total of £33,588 million.

Scottish Government Staff

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its employees who regularly use computers have taken up the offer of a free eye test and how this service is advertised to (a) current and (b) new staff.

John Swinney: Scottish Government (SG) employees can receive assistance towards the purchase of spectacles where this is required for working with display screen equipment. This may involve an eye test. In 2008-09, 6 SG employees received support for eye tests. Records are not held about the number of SG employees who receive a free eye test through the publicly available scheme.

  Information about the appropriate use of display screen equipment is given to SG staff as part of the induction process and is available through the SG intranet.

Scottish Government Staff

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to expand salary sacrifice schemes for sustainable travel.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government Travel Plan contains a commitment to introduce a salary sacrifice scheme for bike purchase and we will commission a tender process during this financial year.

  We will continue to promote our interest free loan arrangements for those choosing to commute by bus or rail.

Scottish Government Staff

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what increase there has been in the percentage share of its staff commuting to work by walking, cycling and using public transport, since its Travel Plan was introduced in December 2007.

John Swinney: Under the Scottish Government’s Travel Plan we will carry out a staff Travel Survey in 2009 to establish what increase has taken place in the percentage share of staff who commute to work by walking, cycling or using public transport.

Terrorism Act 2000

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14083 by Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC, whether it will detail all cases reported and investigated under the Terrorism Act 2000 in Scotland.

Frank Mulholland QC: The details of all cases reported to procurators fiscal, including those investigated and reported in terms of the Terrorism Act 2000, is confidential.

Terrorism Act 2000

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14083 by Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC, on how many occasions the Terrorism Act 2000 has been used to detain people in Scotland.

Frank Mulholland QC: This information is not held centrally.

Terrorism Act 2000

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14083 by Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC, how many convictions there have been under the Terrorism Act 2000 in Scotland.

Frank Mulholland QC: There were 11, 11, 53 and 17 convictions in Scottish courts in the financial years 2003-04 to 2006-07 respectively for offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, where this was the main offence.

Terrorism Act 2000

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14083 by Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC, how many charges have been brought under the Terrrorism Act 2000 in Scotland.

Frank Mulholland QC: Since April 2002, 342 charges have been reported to procurators fiscal and prosecuted under the Terrorism Act 2000.

  Information on charges prosecuted prior to that date is not available as the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case management system in April 2002 and only case records created after that date contain complete data that is capable of electronic analysis.

Tourism

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13078 by Jim Mather on 27 May 2008, what the estimated economic benefit is to Scotland of (a) wildlife tourism, (b) tourism dependent on wild places and unspoilt landscapes and (c) tourism based on the natural and cultural heritage of Scotland.

Jim Mather: Precise estimates on the economic benefit to Scotland of wildlife tourism; tourism dependent on wild places and unspoilt landscapes; and tourism based on the natural and cultural heritage of Scotland are not available, although research into the economic impact of wildlife tourism for Scotland is planned by the Government for the near future.

  However, tourism is one of Scotland’s most important industries, worth well over £4 billion in revenues to the economy. The scenery is the most important factor among those choosing to holiday in Scotland, with 92% rating it important or very important to them in making their choice, while nature and wildlife comes third, with 73% of visitors rating it important or very important. Satisfaction levels with these aspects of their holiday in Scotland is very high, with 97% being satisfied or very satisfied with the scenery, and 86% satisfied or very satisfied with nature and wildlife.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the findings and recommendations of the strategic transport projects review will be reported to ministers.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when ministers will make a decision on the results of the strategic transport projects review.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the findings and recommendations of the strategic transport projects review will be made publicly available.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a ministerial statement to the Parliament on planned government investment in Scotland’s national transport network from 2012 to 2122.

Stewart Stevenson: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14241 on 2 July 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Transport

John Lamont (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when the last meeting of the A1 steering group took place.

Stewart Stevenson: The last meeting of the A1 Steering Group took place on 16 June 2003.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what responsibility it has for the delivery of regional transport strategies.

Stewart Stevenson: Delivery of regional transport strategies is the responsibility of individual regional transport partnerships and their constituent councils.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it has allocated funding to local authorities for the implementation of regional transport strategies.

Stewart Stevenson: All Regional Transport Partnership capital funding was incorporated into the local government settlement. In the case of SPT, these funds have been ring-fenced. It is up to each Regional Transport Partnership to agree regional transport priorities with the constituent councils and the level of funding that will be available for transport projects.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive which public sector bodies operate a salary sacrifice scheme for (a) bus passes and (b) bicycle purchases.

John Swinney: This information is not held centrally.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what reduction there has been in car use, in particular single occupancy car journeys by commuting, by its staff since its Travel Plan was introduced in December 2007.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s Travel Plan seeks to reduce single occupancy car levels by commuting staff by 5% by 2009. It also seeks to increase the share of sustainable travel methods for commuting to work by 10% by 2009.

  A staff travel survey will be carried out in 2009 to establish progress against these targets.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what increase there has been in the percentage share of sustainable forms of transport on official business by its staff since its Travel Plan was introduced in December 2007.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s Travel Plan seeks by 2009 to increase by 10% the share of more sustainable travel methods used by staff on official business. A staff Travel Survey will be carried out in 2009 to establish progress against this target.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is proposing to restructure the Bus Service Operators Grant and when it envisages that this restructuring will take place.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is planning to make the Bus Service Operators Grant more environmentally focused.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that community transport organisations are not disadvantaged by changes to the structure of the Bus Service Operators Grant.

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that any change to the structure of the Bus Service Operators Grant does not lead to the curtailment or limiting of bus services or community transport services.

Stewart Stevenson: As part of the implementation of the Bus Action Plan, the Bus Service Operators Grant scheme is being reconsidered to encourage service provision that takes account of its effects on the environment. Recommendations are being considered by Ministers and the outcomes will be communicated in due course.

Transport

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it will give community transport organisations to make their services more environmentally friendly.

Stewart Stevenson: Under the concordat between Scottish Ministers and COSLA, since 1 April 2008, Local Authorities became fully responsible for the provision of necessary Community Transport services in their areas. Local authorities were required to honour the Scottish Government’s ongoing funding commitments to Rural Community Transport Initiative (RCTI) projects following the scheme’s closure on 31 March 2008. The RCTI budget was transferred to local authorities as part of the local government finance settlement for 2008-11.

  The Scottish Government will be providing local government in Scotland with record levels of funding over the period 2008-11. The vast majority of the funding is being provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and manifesto commitments.